THE NATION | IN BRIEF / WEST VIRGINIA

No Cigarettes Are Safe, Witness Testifies

Regular cigarettes and those touted as "light" are essentially the same, and low-tar cigarettes are no safer than any other kind, a witness who has studied smoking for decades testified.

Jack Henningfield, a consultant from Bethesda, Md., was the first witness to struggle within the confines of a carefully constructed class-action case in which about 250,000 healthy West Virginia smokers are suing the tobacco industry for an unprecedented medical monitoring program.

Henningfield, vice president of Pinney Associates, was instructed to testify only about issues that are common to all smokers.